OSCE to monitor contact line between Azerbaijani, Armenian armies

Under the mandate of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative, monitoring on Azerbaijani and Armenian troops' contact line near Kuropatkino village of Khojavand region will be held on Jan.15, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend today.

The monitoring will be held on the Azerbaijani side by OSCE Chairman-in-Office Personal Representative's field assistants Evgeny Sharov and Peter Svedberg.

On the opposite side, monitoring will be conducted by field assistants Hristo Hristov, Jiri Aberle and William Pryor.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.